"Angkor Plywood, the ‘timber cartel’ shipping Cambodian forests internationally", 14 October 2024

Rare timber species likely logged from Cambodia’s embattled protected forests have been exported to Vietnam and China for years by Angkor Plywood, one of the country’s most notorious logging companies, …

Over a year-long investigation, … documents and testimonies, as well as photo and video evidence, that show Angkor Plywood has been illegally logging timber from Cambodian protected areas and violating various laws by exporting sawn logs internationally…

Angkor Plywood was established by its chairman, Chea Pov, a man who has worked his way up Cambodia’s timber business, in 2011 with Taiwanese national Lu Chu Chang…

… previously uncovered logging routes and timber trails that lead back to Think Biotech, another company chaired by Chang that owns a 34,000-hectare (84,000-acre) concession on the eastern border of Prey Lang in Kratie province. (Think Biotech changed its name to Holy Plantation in December 2023, according to commerce ministry records.)

Pov has connections to two other companies that also own concessions on the western border of Prey Lang in Preah Vihear province: Thy Nga and P.N.T.

Numerous investigations by journalists, academics and activists have alleged that together, Holy Plantation, Thy Nga and P.N.T. launder protected timber for Angkor Plywood — allegations that Chang and Pov have consistently denied.

… also found evidence that some of the company’s dubiously sourced timber is turned into plywood, which Angkor Plywood then sells to a variety of Chinese and U.S. companies in the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The plywood is then made into engineered wood flooring products that are shipped internationally, notably to one of the largest flooring companies in the U.S., AHF Products…